Reunited
by alanmonica4vr
Summary: Alan & Monica Quartermaine are on the brink of divorce again until a tragedy forces them to rethink their decisions - can they get back together this time?


The 2007 Nurse's Ball was in full swing. Alan was on the dance floor dancing with Rae Cummings while Monica glared on angrily. They enjoyed a slow dance and when the song ended, Alan leaned over to kiss Rae softly. As they returned to their table, hand in hand, Monica approached. "Good evening Alan. Well, Rae…looks like they've lowered their standards around this place. I thought only REAL doctors could attend, not frauds."

"Monica don't start," Alan threatened.

"I'm warning you now Alan, you better not be letting this witch sleep in my house, in my bed."

"Give me a break Monica. Listen, it was your choice to move out and file for divorce, so whomever I have in my house is no concern of yours."

"You could at least have the decency to wait until the divorce is finalized before you start parading your new lovers around – and by the way, it's MY house, dammit. I'm just stupid enough to let you live there."

"That's the pot calling the kettle black now isn't it Monica. MY lovers? As I recall, your endless stream of lovers started from day one of our marriage and you never knew the meaning of the word decency, especially not where Rick Weber was concerned."

"You leave Rick out of this!"

"Why, Monica, have I hit a nerve? Rick hammers the final nail in the coffin of our marriage and now where is he? Hmmm? Oh, once he came to his senses about you, he ran fleeing into the night. That's the smartest thing he ever did."

"Honestly Alan…I cannot wait until this divorce is through and I'm rid of you for good."

"Monica, you're the one holding things up - this could all be over with so quickly if you weren't so stubborn and would just turn over your ELQ assets."

"Oh no, buddy, all the years of garbage you put me through, you think I'm just going to walk away empty handed? Not on your life. My lawyer is making sure I get exactly what I deserve."

Alan snickered. "Looks like you already got what you deserve, Monica. You're here alone, aren't you?"

Their voices were escalating as they argued and Emily soon came over. "You two are causing a scene. People are starting to stare. Now can you please just be civil to each other, in public anyway."

"Civil? She doesn't know the meaning of the word."  
"Dad, please…Mom, why don't you come with Nicholas and I to check out the art auction?" She led Monica away as she scowled at Alan.  
Alan sat down at the table with Rae, who was feeling rather awkward at witnessing the scene. "I'm sorry you had to see that Rae. And apologize if she insulted you."

Alan was still seething. He had been battling with Monica for months now since their separation. AJ's death had put a distance between them that could not be mended. They both blamed each other and took their grief out on each other. Alan's adoption of Skye and his continued support of her and his friendship with her mother Rae infuriated Monica, but Alan was unwilling to hear anything negative about his "daughter". But perhaps, the final straw was Monica's resumption yet again of her affair with Rick Weber. Rick had given Monica the comfort that Alan could not in the months following AJ's death and that comfort soon turned into a full blown affair. Alan and Monica were so distant that it actually took Alan many months before he had even suspected the relationship. Once it came to light, they had separated; Monica moving into a penthouse suite at the Port Charles hotel. She let Alan and his family stay at the mansion. Lila was in failing health and Monica could not justify tearing apart the rest of the family while Lila's health was so fragile. After the separation, her relationship with Rick fizzled and Rick chose to leave Port Charles to accept a medical director position in Texas. Their divorce was turning quite bitter. They hit an endless brick wall over their financial assets and Monica refused to budge on any of the issues which locked them.

"Listen, Rae, the evening has been dampened. Would it be ok with you if we just left and went home?"

Rae smiled at Alan. Their friendship had gradually become romantic in nature lately and she had begun to care about Alan very deeply. She knew Alan enjoyed spending time with her, but at times she wondered about his feelings for her. He seemed to have his guard up with her, and despite her frequent attempts, they had not been intimate together.

"Yes, Alan, I would love to get out of here," she smiled at him warmly. She thought maybe his anger at Monica tonight would entice him to spend a warm romantic night with her.

They entered the den of the Quartermaine mansion and Alan poured them each a nightcap. "I'm sorry again about the scene at the ball, Rae. Monica is absolutely infuriating. I cannot wait until this whole mess is over."

"Well Alan, suppose we just forget about Monica for the rest of the evening?" She took his drink out of his hand, set them both on the table and wrapped her arms around his neck. She proceeded to kiss him passionately, but was interrupted by Alan's cell phone. "Why don't you ignore that?" she whispered.

Alan looked at the phone. "It's the hospital. I have to take this." He took Rae's arms from around his neck and answered the phone. His face turned pale as he heard Lucky Spencer's voice on the other end. "I'll be right there," he said. He stood momentarily stunned while Rae looked at him with concern.

"There's been an accident. I need to get to the hospital," Alan could barely get the words out.

"What's happened, Alan?" Rae asked.

"It's Monica. Lucky wouldn't tell me any more. I have to go." Alan was visibly shaken.

"I'll go with you," Rae offered.

"No," Alan insisted. "I could be there a while. Alice can see that our driver gets you home." He rushed out the door before Rae could utter another word.

The drive to the hospital was a complete blur. Alan didn't even know how he got there. He had no idea what was in store for him once he arrived. He raced into the ER and a nurse pointed him to Trauma Room 1. It only took a second before he realized the severity of Monica's condition. He raced to Monica's side, yelling out her name. He quickly dissolved into a mess of hysteria. "Monica, oh my God, Monica! What happened?"

Tony Jones was running the trauma and knew Monica's condition was critical. "Bobbie, take him outside please."

Bobbie quickly went to Alan's side and tried to lead him out of the room. "No, Bobbie, please…let me stay. Please." Alan begged.

Bobbie looked at Tony who nodded. "You need to stay out of our way and let us work Alan."

Alan agreed and stepped aside, watching the scene before him. He had been involved in countless traumas, but watching the team work on Monica, it was as if he had never seen anything like this before. They were inserting a tube in her throat and placing her on a respirator. Tony was calling out orders for medications, which Bobbie was quickly administering. Another nurse was hanging bags of blood, while another was calling out Monica's vital signs every few moments. Her heart rate and blood pressure were dangerously low. As Alan stood by helplessly, he heard the dreaded sound of the machine's alarm which indicated that her heart had stopped. "No….No! Please, Monica, don't do this. Don't do this!" he cried out. After pushing some meds and using the defibrillator, they managed to get Monica's heart beating again. Alan stood in stunned silence. A nurse noticed how pale and shaken he looked and gently guided him out to the waiting room. Alan sat helplessly, waiting for what seemed like an eternity. Tony finally came out and told Alan that Monica was stable but critical. He explained that she had been brought in by the paramedics unconscious and barely breathing. She had a collapsed lung and Tony worried that she had internal injuries and bleeding. "Surgery is seeing her now. We have her ready for the OR."

"Can I see her, please?" Alan whispered.

"Go ahead, but only for a moment, Alan," Tony answered.

Alan walked into the trauma room and stood at Monica's side. He was shocked by her appearance. She was deathly pale and her face was smeared with blood and dirt. A young physician was suturing a large laceration on her forehead. The ventilator tube was in her mouth and the machine clicked and hummed, sustaining her breathing. She had an IV in her neck and blood was infusing quickly. Tony had inserted a chest tube in her left side to help reinflate her collapsed lung. Alan was almost afraid to touch her, but he took her hand gently. "You're going to be ok. You have to be," he whispered. A moment later, Bobbie announced that the OR was ready and they whisked Monica off to surgery. Before she headed off to scrub in, Bobbie laid a reassuring hand on Alan's arm. "We'll do everything we can for her." Alan nodded and watched them wheel Monica away. He returned to the waiting area and phoned Emily. She was rushing right in, she told Alan. "Please let Nicholas drive you," Alan advised.

Emily and Nicholas arrived at the hospital within a few minutes. They all waited in tense silence for news on Monica's condition. Alan paced, while Emily sat gripping Nicholas' hand. Finally, the surgeon came to them. "The surgery went well, but she's still in serious condition." He proceeded to explain to Alan that Monica's spleen had ruptured and was removed; she also had sustained a severe laceration to her liver. She had lost a great deal of blood during surgery and her blood pressure hovered at a dangerously low level. They opted to keep her heavily sedated and on the ventilator until they felt she was more stable. "It's going to be touch and go for the next 24 hours at least Alan. You can see her in a few minutes, when they get her to recovery."

A few moments later, Bobbie came out to escort them in to see Monica. "Only one at a time, Alan, and only for a few moments."

As much as he longed to see Monica, he knew Emily needed to be able to see her also. He allowed her to go in first. When Emily came out, she quickly fell into Nicholas' arms and cried. Alan entered the room cautiously. Bobbie was quietly watching the monitors and Monica's vital signs. Alan sat down at Monica's bedside and took her hand in his. It felt so cold and lifeless and it worried him. He struggled to contain his emotions, but as he assessed all the machines and tubes that Monica was attached to, he lost the battle. He put his head down on Monica's hand and wept softly. Bobbie patted his arm gently and spoke softly. "She's a fighter Alan. She'll make it through this. I just know she will."

"Thank you Bobbie. And thank you for being with her in surgery." Alan wiped his eyes.

"Of course, Alan."

"I was so surprised to see you and Tony here. You weren't on call tonight."

"Yes, but when Robin Scorpio's beeper went off at the Nurse's ball, she told us it was Monica. Tony and I both knew we had to be the ones to come in here and take care of her."

"I'm so grateful."

"Hey, listen, why don't you and Emily go and get some coffee or something. We need to get her ready to move to ICU. You can see her in about an hour." Bobbie looked in Alan's eyes and could see the pain he was dealing with. Her heart broke for him and she gave him a hug. "Hang in there, ok. She'll be alright."

Alan looked at the clock in Monica's room. He couldn't believe it was 11:00 in the morning. What a long night. He had finally convinced Emily to go home with Nicholas, promising he would call her with any changes. Emily was reluctant, but Alan knew it had been a long night for her also. She had wanted him to leave and let her stay, but Alan was adamant. "I'm not leaving her, Em." He told her.

Alan sat there all night and morning, holding his wife's pale hand, listening to the hums and click of the machines and the chirping of the monitors. He whispered to her softly, "Monica, it's me, Alan. I'm right here. You're going to be alright. But you need to wake up. God, Monica, there's so much I want to tell you. I've been such a fool. I spent so much time being angry and jealous, wasted so much time fighting with you. Now, sitting here, watching you fight for your life and realizing how easily I could lose you…I can't even remember what I was angry about. I love you Monica. I've loved you from the first day I laid eyes on you. I know we've done unspeakable things to each other, we've hurt each other so badly. But it doesn't matter now. We've gotten through so many things…I don't want to give up on us now. I don't want a divorce Monica. I never did. I guess I was just too proud to tell you before. We were so good together once. We loved with a passion that I've never known before and could never have with anyone else. We can get that back I know we can. I still love you so much and I promise you, if you give our marriage another chance, I'll prove it to you. But you have to wake up now and you have to come back to me. Come back to me Monica….please…" Alan's voice breaks off and he holds Monica's hand to his lips, sobbing softly.

Then he felt it – he felt her arm starting to move – she was waking up. He looked up at her as Monica's eyes began to open. She tried to speak, but the tube in her throat prevented her from making any sounds. Her eyes grew frightened as she tried to pull at the tube. "It's ok, Monica. Look at me, it's me Alan. You're in the hospital. You had a very bad accident, but you're going to be fine now. I need to get Tony, ok."

He arrived a moment later with both Tony and Bobbie. Tony quickly removed the breathing tube and Monica was able to breathe on her own without any difficulty. Alan could not contain his relief that Monica was awake and breathing. He bent over her bed and held her gently to him. "Thank God you're ok" he whispered softly. Monica could see the tears shining in his eyes.  
"What happened?" Monica asked in a hoarse voice.

"I'll explain everything to you while I examine you," Tony answered.

Alan stepped out of the room to call Emily. When he looked at his cell phone, he noticed 3 missed calls from Rae. He knew he should call her back, but right now, all he wanted to do was see Monica again and make sure she was going to be alright. Tony came to him after examining Monica. He put his hand on Alan's shoulder. "She looks great, my friend. Of course, it's early to tell, but I see no reason why she won't make a full recovery."

"I'm so relieved. Thank you again Tony."

Alan returned to Monica's room. As she looked at him, she realized he was in his tuxedo shirt and pants from the nurse's ball. Had he stayed with her all night? "Emily's on her way in," he told her. "She's so glad you're awake. Are you in a lot of pain?" He saw her wince as she tried to make herself comfortable.

"Some, but nothing I can't handle," she whispered. She started to doze off.

Alan sat awkwardly at her bedside. He wanted so much to spill out all the things he had told her while she was sleeping, but now just didn't seem like the right time. She had just woken up and learned of her injuries. It was hardly the time to be pouring his heart at and asking her about their future together.

Emily soon arrived and hugged Monica tightly. She held her hand while they talked and Emily admitted how frightened she was that Monica could die. Alan took this opportunity to leave the two women alone and head back home. After he left, Monica questioned Emily, "Is he ok?"

"I'm sure. He was just worried about you too. He's probably pretty exhausted also."

"Did he stay here all night?"

"I couldn't get him to leave. I wanted to stay here with you, but he insisted he wasn't leaving your side."

Monica shook her head slowly. She was more than a bit confused at the behavior of this man whom she had been fighting with so viciously for the past several months. She was certain any feelings that may have lingered between them before the divorce proceedings started were most definitely gone. Their fights lately were bitter and hurtful.

Monica remained in the hospital for a week before Tony finally agreed to let her return home. He had wanted her to stay longer, but Monica argued relentlessly. Alan came to visit every day, but he remained somewhat distant. He always asked about her progress and what Tony had to say and asked her if she needed anything. But the emotion that Monica had seen in his eyes after she first woke up was gone.

As for Alan, he was struggling with his emotions. He finally called Rae the night after Monica's accident. She was upset with him for not calling sooner, but wanted to see him. He declined, stating his fatigue as a reason. She called the next few days, always asking when they could see each other. Finally Alan agreed. He met her at the PC hotel for a drink. She knew the moment he took her hands and looked into his eyes what was coming next. Alan tried to let her down easy, insisting it was him, not her to blame. He attempted a lame excuse, but Rae knew the real reason and called him on it. "You're still in love with her." Alan couldn't deny it to her or himself any longer.

"I've always loved her Rae. I thought I could let her go, let her walk out of my life. I thought I was angry enough to finally let that happen. But the night of the accident, I knew that I could not imagine living without her."

"How does Monica feel..about you?"

"I don't know Rae. Maybe she still hates me. Maybe she's still in love with Rick Weber. But I do now that I can't let this go without fighting for it, fighting for her."

"Then I guess you better go and go to her."

Monica was glad to finally be back at her penthouse. She was still feeling the pain of her injuries, but all in all was well on her way to recovery. She had only been home about an hour when there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find Alan standing there with a bouquet of yellow roses.  
"I heard they let you go home. I didn't send you any flowers while you were in the hospital; I thought you'd enjoy them more here."

Monica took the roses he gave to her "They're beautiful Alan, thank you."

They made small talk for a while, and then were interrupted by Monica's cell phone. She looked at the screen and told Alan she needed to answer the call. She knew she shouldn't answer it in front of Alan, but she couldn't resist the chance to see if she could still make him jealous.

"Rick, it's nice to hear from you," She spoke to the voice on the phone.

Rick explained on the other end that he had just found about Monica's accident from Elizabeth. He apologized for not calling her sooner. They chatted for a few minutes, while Alan's anger grew rapidly. He was infuriated that Rick was still in contact with her. When Monica finally hung up and thanked Rick for calling, Alan could contain his anger no further. "Rick Weber, huh? Will that man never be out of our lives? I thought once he left for Texas that we'd finally be free of that loser once and for all."

"Alan, how dare you! Rick and I parted on amicable terms. There is nothing wrong about me getting a phone call from an old friend."  
"An old lover you mean!"

"I can't believe you – you're acting like a self righteous jealous boor! Besides, we're getting a divorce, so you have NO right to tell me who I can or can't receive phone calls from. Besides, what about you and that poor excuse for a shrink, Rae Cummings?"

"Rae and I are through, not that it's any concern of yours."

"Hmm, she got sick of you too?"

"You know what Monica, this is ridiculous. I'm leaving." He headed for the door and had his hand on the knob when he stopped. "Monica; I came here today because there were some things I wanted to tell you. So, I want you to sit down and listen to me, because I'm only going to say this once."

He turned to Monica and stared at her, his piercing eyes, burning a hole through her. "I love you Monica. I've never stopped loving you. I don't care about Rae; I don't care about Rick; I just want you. I don't want a divorce."

"What? This doesn't make any sense. All these months, we've been fighting constantly…why are you saying this…why now?"

Alan sat on the couch next to her and took her hand. He sighed deeply. "Monica, when Lucky called me and told me you'd been in a serious accident, my heart stopped. I tell you, I don't even know how I drove to the hospital. When I saw you and how badly hurt you were, all I could think of was that I could lose you. You could die on me and you'd never know how I feel. While you were in surgery, I realized that nothing else matters but the love I feel for you. Not the past, not the hurt, not the fighting. You are everything to me and I can't imagine my life without you."

Monica's eyes began to fill up and she struggled for words. "I don't even know what to say."

"Tell me that you feel the same."

"I do Alan. I still love you too….but…"

His mouth closed over hers before she could get anymore words out. They kissed passionately.

"Alan, I don't know if we can make this work again. There's been so much hurt and anger. Your reaction to that phone call a few minutes ago proved that you don't trust me."

"Listen Monica, I won't lie to you. I will always detest Rick Weber and the place he's had in your life. But I can deal with it, as long as I know that you love me. This past week has proved to me just how quickly we could lose everything. I don't want to waste any time together. We've wasted far too much already. I love you lady. I always have and I know that no matter what, I always will."

"Alan, I may regret this someday, but I know I love you too and I would love to give this another chance." The tears poured down her cheeks and Alan kissed her again. He pulled her tightly to him, forgetting about her healing wounds until she moaned in pain. "I guess we'll have to take our reunion a little more slowly," he laughed.

"We'll see about that," Monica sighed and kissed him again.

"Come on darling, I'm taking you back home. To YOUR house."

"That you gave me," Monica laughed as they walked out the door arm in arm.


End file.
